Chapter 471
Ji Yuan's Great Victory
The crows that had been circling above the Chishui River landed on the river and began to peck at the rotting flesh of the Qi Yu soldiers.
Ji Yuan slowly stepped across the river on the already battered ship's deck.
The corpses beneath my feet covered the ground in a thick layer, and with each step forward, my feet sank into them.
In this purgatory, Ji Yuan seemed to be the master of this world, standing there with compassion and desolation.
After five days of fierce attack, he won.
Although the cost was extremely high.
But he had already crossed the river.
Of course, Wei Wusheng did not lose, but he ceded part of the battlefield and tactically retreated several miles.
"Your Majesty," Chen Xing reported to Ji Yuan, "as we suspected, those thieves who sneaked in have instigated the former noble families of Yu to rebel. The original Yu people have also begun to rebel against us and fight against the soldiers and civilians we have gathered... Although we can suppress them for the time being, it is probably impossible to completely wipe them out."
This was all expected.
Even though Ji Yuan had been operating here for several years, they were essentially Yu people. They had been suppressed before, but all it took was a single spark—the announcement that "Song Shi'an is here"—to transform them into the army of Dayu and launch a fierce attack on Ji Yuan.
“Those aristocratic families, we should slaughter them all,” Chen Xing said with great indignation.
"Lord Chen, you're speaking in anger again." Ji Yuan smiled and said, "All the people in this world are like this. If Song Shi'an were to attack my Great Qi, wouldn't everyone cheer with all their might?"
Chen Xing had no way to refute it.
It might not have been quite the same in the past.
But now, the Qi state is putting too much pressure on them, and there is widespread resentment towards the court.
Even if they don't know whether they will have a good life after Song Shi'an arrives, simple people will still try to romanticize a path they have no other choice.
Are these people pedantic?
No.
If people live a happy and peaceful life, the vast majority of them will not expect such a major upheaval as the overthrow of a regime.
“Song Shi’an is like a demon to the common people,” Chen Xing said, his head bowed, his voice filled with urgency.
"Compared to demons, they are more like gods," Ji Yuan corrected.
This person has already won the hearts of the people in politics.
This also means that Ji Yuan has completely lost the support of the people.
“He must die,” Chen Xing said. “Only by destroying this god can the fate of our Great Qi dynasty remain unshaken, even if we don’t win this battle decisively.”
In short, Song Shi'an was a combination of Cao Cao's military capabilities, Zhuge Liang's political skills, and Zhang Jiao's political foundation.
The first two have appeared quite often in history, and while combinations of the two are less common, they do exist, and they also align with the mass line principle...
“Song Shi’an’s greatest skill is using himself as bait to draw our attention to him,” Ji Yuan said. “That Duke of Li died because of this.”
Everyone knows that killing him will lead to victory.
How could he not know?
Therefore, everything he showed—that 'he had the opportunity to kill'—was a trap.
"So, we're just leaving Song Shi'an to Beishuo County?" Chen Xing asked.
"Leave 30,000 elite troops in the three camps at the ferry crossing, forming a defensive perimeter," Ji Yuan said. "The remaining troops should burn the crops in the military farms and retreat back to their respective cities."
The phrase "fortify the countryside and scorch the fields" means to abandon the countryside and defend the cities.
Defending a city is difficult, but stalling for time is not.
Song Shi'an would have to conquer cities one by one, and it would take a long time to reach Wuwei.
With the remaining time, Ji Yuan had something to do.
They captured Shuofeng and defeated Wei Wusheng.
"Your Majesty," Chen Xing paused slightly before continuing, "among the Yu people who are stationed in the agricultural settlements, some have not yet rebelled and are under our control..."
"Are we bringing them into the city so that they'll open the gates when we're attacked?"
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
.........
Because Song Shi'an's army was about to march north, uprisings had broken out everywhere, and the grain had not yet grown to the point where it could be harvested, the military farms in Beishuo County went bankrupt.
Fires burned millions of acres of grain to ashes.
While the fire was burning, the Qi army dug large pits and, at night, lured and coerced all the people of Yu Ji into these pits.
Regardless of age.
In an instant, the land of Beishuo County turned into hell.
The people are like springs; the harder they are compressed, the stronger they bounce back.
But Ji Yuan's blade was too fast and too ruthless; before half of the Yu people could react, they had already turned into corpses.
At the same time, this directly led Huang Tong to unite the people of Yu and develop a series of bases here.
"The young Grand Secretary hasn't crossed the river yet. Should we take these people and join forces with the main army to encircle and annihilate the Qi bandits guarding the riverbank?" A captain from the Yixin Society suggested to Huang Tong. "We have eight thousand men here, half of whom are armed with hoes and spears. We still have the strength to fight."
“No.” Huang Tong raised his hand and said very seriously, “We are only strong at one time.”
"When?" he asked.
“That’s when there’s no war,” Huang Tong said.
Those who didn't come are the strongest.
But once they actually went, the power of the civilian militia became tangible.
Rather than that, it would be better to keep the enemy troops constantly wary that they have tens of thousands of 'rebels' behind them.
"The young Grand Secretary said that everything in Shuojun depends on my adaptability," Huang Tong said. "But at the same time, he also said that as long as we always wave his banner, we will surely win."
"The general means..."
After a moment's thought, Huang Tong made a decision that was most "Song Shi'an": "Gather all the cloth and have the people work through the night to make them into 'Song' flags. Carry these flags and send people out one after another to repeatedly detour around the Qi army in places where they can be seen."
Everything was done to achieve one effect: to intimidate the teams without Ji Yuan by their side with the most terrifying power—to make them cry!
.........
Wei Wusheng originally had a considerable number of troops, but he suffered heavy losses when attacking Chishui. When the two sides were locked in fierce fighting, Ji Yuan suddenly launched a counterattack with more than twice the number of troops. As a result, the battle line, which was already devastated, was breached in just a few days.
The two fortified villages along the riverbank also became strongholds for the enemy.
Fortunately, several large camps were completely reduced to ruins.
Some of the grain and supplies inside the fortified village were evacuated, while the rest were burned.
After all, it was not a rout, but an orderly retreat. Wei Wusheng did not strengthen the enemy while suffering losses himself.
However, with that most important front gone, Shuofeng City became an isolated city.
Therefore, in order to avoid another battle turning into a defensive one.
On the vast open ground, he was about to fight a massive battle reminiscent of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.
They formed ranks and exchanged fire.
After securing the crossing point and ensuring the possibility of advancing or retreating, Ji Yuan, under the personal command of his most powerful general Mi Heng, led 50,000 troops to advance towards Shuofeng.
Five miles in front of Shuofeng City, the fully armored King Dalong, who could be described as a humanoid Gundam, was also leading an army of 35,000, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
At that moment, on the high tower of the temporary camp behind, Wei Yixing found Wei Wusheng and said very seriously, "King Qin, why won't you let me go into battle?"
Wei Wusheng, who was gazing at the army, glanced at his younger brother, who was about the same height as him and was already a man, and continued to look at the battlefield. He said rather casually, "I sent you here to show the world that the Great Yu royal family is harmonious and the people's hearts are with us."
“Then if I go to the battlefield, wouldn’t that be even more of a show for them?” Wei Yixing insisted. “Song Shi’an promised me that I could go to the battlefield.”
"Did he say that you have to listen to me in everything?" Wei Wusheng asked.
"I'll do as you say," Wei Yixing said. "Wherever you tell me to shoot, I'll shoot!"
“Then I’ll tell you to stay here and not move,” Wei Wusheng said.
"Aren't you just afraid that if I die, you won't be able to explain it to the emperor?" Wei Yixing, who felt he had been fooled like a child, was furious. "If I die, it's my own fault! I won't blame anyone!"
“You’re right,” Wei Wusheng laughed. “It’s a small matter if you die, but if you die here with me, things will get a bit complicated.”
After he finished speaking, Wei Yixing asked with a gloomy face, "When Fourth Brother and Seventh Brother died, did you find it troublesome?"
"..." This sentence stunned Zhu Qing, who was standing next to Wei Wusheng. After a pause, she pulled Wei Yixing and whispered, "Prince Jiangling... let's go back."
But he remained stubborn, staring blankly at Wei Wusheng, completely unaware that he shouldn't have said what he had just said.
At least he said he didn't regret it.
Looking into his eyes and at his face, Wei Wusheng stared for a long time before he finally understood the meaning behind Song Shi'an's words when he brought this person to him.
"Do you think your fourth brother and your seventh brother deserve to die?" Wei Wusheng asked.
“Damn it,” Wei Yixing said, “They wanted to kill you, and then you killed them. There’s nothing wrong with that.” “Then you didn’t want to kill me?” Wei Wusheng asked. “You don’t hate me?”
“When I was against you, I naturally wanted to win,” Wei Yixing said. “But the Duke of Zhangping tricked me, using me as a pawn, like a clown, as a cover for his schemes with Song Shi’an. In that sense, we were never really rivals.”
The Duke of Zhangping never intended to fight properly, so how can that be considered a serious fight?
“I’m very unhappy. The feeling of being treated like an idiot or a child is disgusting and makes me want to vomit,” Wei Yixing said. “Now, Song Shi’an has agreed to let me come to Beiliang so that I can fight Ji Yuan, so I’m here.”
Wei Yixing was not an extreme warmonger, nor could he be called immature; he was simply too concerned with saving face.
The battle with the Southern Yue Kingdom was a great humiliation for him.
Therefore, he wanted to get his revenge.
It wasn't about taking back everything that belonged to him; it was purely about proving that he wasn't a useless person.
Everyone in the world says that the princes of Dayu are a bunch of good-for-nothings, which is a complete joke. They are not even worth as much as Wei Wusheng, who is practically an orphan.
He wanted to argue back, in order to be worthy of his lineage.
And for my father, for my father-in-law, I will not let these heroes down!
A long horn sounded, signaling the start of a fierce battle.
"Then you just wait, there will be a time when I need you."
Wei Wusheng said this to Wei Yixing.
But he really didn't want such a moment to come.
The sun hung high in the sky. The plains of Beiliang were already shrouded in the heat of summer. Mi Heng's 50,000 Qi soldiers, clad in black armor, shone brightly in the sun; Wang Dalong's 35,000 Yu soldiers, their red banners like blood. Warhorses pawed restlessly at the slightly scorching sand, the soldiers' armor linings were already soaked with sweat, and bowstrings slackened slightly in the high temperature…
Mi Heng ordered her heavy cavalry to charge in a wedge formation. When they were a hundred paces from the Yu formation, the front rank of warhorses suddenly fell into a camouflaged trench—the bottom of which was densely packed with bamboo spears thrust diagonally. The fallen riders were not dead, but the cavalry behind them could not stop in time and trampled each other. The Qi army's tortoise-shell formation timely opened a gap, and three-meter-long chevaux-de-frise protruded, pinning the fallen heavy cavalrymen and their horses to death on the battlefield.
This first trap was set in advance by Yu's army.
How far back in time?
They had already made secret arrangements a month before the two sides went to war.
Because we had long been prepared to fight a fierce battle in the north wind after the front line was lost.
Mi Heng was not surprised at all and continued her fierce attack. Upon getting close, the Yu army's spear and shield formation was forcibly cleaved open, and these axemen and spearmen, because they had to fight against heavily armored soldiers in the summer, quickly became exhausted and had their skulls smashed by the iron maces of the Qi army's heavy cavalry that followed.
Heavy cavalry is indeed not suitable for charging into enemy lines, but if the number of heavy cavalry is large and they get going, then once an opening is created, they will become a deadly weapon on the battlefield.
Therefore, the Qi troops, who took the initiative to advance, were already entangled with the Yu army without experiencing much weakening from the enemy's archers and crossbowmen.
"kill!!!"
Wang Dalong was originally the fiercest general of Beiliang, promoted from the ranks, and he was used to such personal combat.
With a vanguard general leading the battle, the morale of the Great Yu soldiers was not intimidated at all.
On the high platform, Wei Wusheng's pupils dilated as he gripped the railing, his heart pounding.
However, Ji Yuan, who was sitting behind the army, remained quite calm.
It wasn't a tactical imbalance that caused this psychological gap.
It was purely because Wei Wusheng had never experienced a battle where soldiers were thrown around like firecrackers. He considered his soldiers to be his brothers. He would feel sorry if even one of them died.
Nowadays, people die faster than water flows away.
This kind of fighting is terrifying.
The Battle of Xiangji Temple was a scene like this.
An army of approximately 250,000 fought for a full eight hours, engaging in a frenzied battle, resulting in the deaths of 130,000.
Wei Wusheng found it terrifying.
But Ji Yuan believed that these were just numbers.
People will die on our side, and people will die on the other side too.
If they're all dead, it's as if none of them are dead.
Since no one died, what's there to be afraid of?
The sun in the sky gradually began to set in the west.
The setting sun was like blood, a vivid, almost dripping red.
The sounds of battle continued unabated.
However, the voice gradually became lower than before.
It's not that they don't have the strength to roar, it's simply because the number of people has decreased.
"Your Majesty, this battle was truly magnificent..."
After five hours of fighting, Chen Xing ran over, and Ji Yuan, who was extremely excited, said, "In such a fierce battle, not a single person retreated. Although the enemy put up a stubborn resistance, we managed to drive them back! We won!"
When the retreat signal was sounded, less than 40,000 of the original 85,000 remained. The sandy ground was soaked with blood and turned into mud, attracting swarms of flies that blotted out the sky.
With most of their manpower depleted, Yu Jun had no choice but to retreat.
Wei Wusheng personally led the rear guard, carrying shields, and slowly withdrew from the battlefield.
The temporary camp was also burned down, showing no respect to Ji Yuan whatsoever.
"Move out all two thousand light cavalry!" Ji Yuan calmly ordered. "Spread out into several groups, maintain distance, and simply fire arrows. Continue to kill the enemy, kill as many enemies as possible!"
After the group battle, Yu Jun made a tactical retreat. So now it's time to chase down the lone survivors.
Ji Yuan profited handsomely from this.
They can fight their way all the way to the outskirts of Shuofeng City.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" A cavalryman went directly to convey the emperor's decree.
And so, he didn't move at all, he was basically at full strength, and he was unarmored, both on his body and on his horse. This army of pure light cavalry was so fast that it was unreasonable.
Yu Jun was pursued and killed all the way, suffering extremely heavy casualties.
However, Wei Wusheng had no choice but to fight this battle.
Because if he retreats back into the city, it will turn into a defensive battle again.
There's no problem with defending the city.
But at this time, for him to go and defend the city, and with the main force of the army at that, is simply putting himself in a cage.
Moreover, after several years of military farming, the Great Yu Dynasty has more than just Shuofeng as a strategic location. If it avoids war, other places in Shuojun will suffer.
"Lord Chen, clean up the battlefield as soon as possible," Ji Yuan said. "Collect all the armor and equip it to a new army."
The reason why heavy cavalry can be used that way is because as long as they win, the battlefield belongs to them.
Those suits of armor can all be recycled.
Even Wei Wusheng's army would become his equipment.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Xing nodded, then asked, "What will happen to Wei Wusheng next? Will he defend Shuofeng City?"
“No,” Ji Yuan said. “He is the backbone of Shuojun. If he enters Shuofeng, it would be tantamount to walking into a cage.”
“But I heard there’s still plenty of grain in Shuofeng City, and it’s impossible to take it away in a short time,” Chen Xing said. “If they don’t take the initiative to defend it, and it falls into our hands, we can continue fighting.”
What Chen Xing wanted to make clear was that the north wind was very important.
"I have completely seen through Song Shi'an!" Ji Yuan stood up and said with a confident smile, "Food is of utmost importance and cannot be lost, so we will definitely launch a strong attack. Once we break through the city, he will set fire to the north wind and use that fire to kill my Qi soldiers!"
"The north wind is also bait?" Chen Xing asked in surprise.
“That’s right,” Ji Yuan said. “Song Shi’an doesn’t care if Northern Liang is reduced to ashes. What he wants to do in this battle is the same as mine: kill, kill, kill as many people as possible!”
.........
At Dongjin Ferry, the army had completed its breakthrough and was crossing the river in succession.
Song Shi'an also received news of Wei Wusheng's defeat.
Although it was somewhat heartbreaking, it was entirely within my expectations.
On a warship, he practiced in front of a sand table.
After one defensive line after another was breached, the battle returned to the defense of Shuofeng.
However, if it's a complete defense, Ji Yuan will definitely bypass this city.
Therefore, only a portion of the army could enter the city, while the rest of the troops dispersed to defend other cities and strongholds.
"The grain from four large granaries is all in Shuofeng City, which is very tempting to Ji Yuan," Song Shi'an said. "Therefore, he will inevitably go to Shuofeng. With this, the Heavenly Furnace Strategy is complete."
"What if Ji Yuan is unwilling to attack the city?" Xin Yue said, "After all, we've suffered losses before."
“These grains are secondary,” Song Shi’an said. “As long as Ji Yuan has no choice but to refuse, that will suffice.”
Xin Yue's heart tightened, and she said, "We were able to defend the city before because of you. This time, Ji Yuan has the experience, and he can completely copy what you did to deal with the plague... Shuo Feng might really be in danger."
Song Shi'an, sword in hand, lit the candle on the 'north wind' symbol on the sand table, igniting it: "To defeat Ji Yuan, we must take any risk." (End of Chapter)